Forecasters: Floridians Should Prepare for Hurricane

Source: Associated Press

Forecasters: Floridians should prepare for hurricane
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer

16 minutes ago
KEY WEST, Fla. - Residents and tourists in the Florida Keys braced for Tropical Storm Fay, which forecasters said could strengthen to a hurricane by Sunday night and begin battering the island chain as soon as Monday. The storm picked up some momentum early Sunday morning as it headed toward Cuba, and could be a hurricane by the time it reaches the island's center, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency Saturday because Fay "threatens the state of Florida with a major disaster," he wrote in an executive order. Forecasters have predicted that the sixth named storm of the 2008 season could make landfall somewhere along the western coast of Florida on Tuesday as a hurricane.

Officials in the Keys' Monroe County said they would likely order an evacuation of all visitors on Sunday morning. A decision on whether to require all residents to evacuate was to come, county spokeswoman Becky Herrin said. Keys emergency officials often take the precaution of ordering early evacuations when a storm threatens, because traffic can back up for miles on the single highway to Florida's mainland.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080817/ap_on_re_us/tropical_weather_florida

At least four people have been killed in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

More than 2,000 people were evacuated in the Dominican Republic, hundreds of homes were damaged and a further 15,000 houses lost power.

Fay could become a hurricane as it moves towards Cuba then on to Florida, arriving there possibly on Monday.

Sustained winds of 75km/h (45mph) and rainfall of 20cm (eight inches) were recorded in the Dominican Republic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7564611.stm

tropical storm status. I am still hoping it comes our way (Georgia) to finish filling up the lakes. We've had much more rain this year but we could use a slow moving tropical system.

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200806.html#a_topad

on edit: I tried to put the graphic here, but it is forbidden. Here is the web page with the map.